Student Thoughts: Labor for inmates should not be a requirement

Alia Bennett / Contributing Writer

We have known for years that the United States has had a huge issue when it comes to mass incarceration. Though our country contains only five percent of the world’s population, we house 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated population according to The Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group. The Huffington Post states that over 60 percent of people who are incarcerated in federal prisons are there for reasons that are nonviolent.

Undoubtedly, large companies are taking advantage of this system. They know that inmates are essentially powerless. They don’t get time off, breaks, vacations or even insurance since they are behind bars. This is a cheap way to get people to work for you without having to take on the full responsibility of their well being.

To make matters worse, disciplinary action is taken when inmates refuse to comply. Inmates can be placed under solitary confinement, have credit for good behavior revoked and can have family visits taken away.

The labor of inmates have been used in agriculture, mining, manufacturing and more. Popular companies such as JCPenney and Starbucks are just some of the big names that have a stake in the prison labor market.

How much would you want to wear your favorite pair of jeans or drink your favorite macchiato if you knew what really happened behind the scenes? We know that sweatshops are wrong, but what about prison labor?

Is this acceptable because those laborers are “criminal?” Inmates are still people and are entitled to basic human rights. Just because something is legal does not mean it is right or ethical.

My concern is that people may become apathetic towards those serving time in jail. We can agree that inmates deserve steep consequences for their unlawful actions, but exactly what type of consequences?

Companies are not hiring inmates as a way to “punish” them. They are hiring them for their selfish benefit to cut costs and avoid the complications or limitations of having actual employees.

This causes more problems in a criminal justice system plagued with institutional racism, corruption and bias. Evidence shown by the Innocence Project indicates that minorities and whites take part in nonviolent criminal activity in comparable rates, yet minorities are jailed more frequently and with harsher punishments.

So what should we do about this problem? A good starting point would be to make labor voluntary, not mandatory, for inmates.

The fact that a lot of prison labor is somewhat forced on inmates is the primary issue. They should be given the choice to work for these companies. They shouldn’t be subjected to harsh punishment if they do not choose to work.

Removing them from interaction with their loved ones, or humans in general, could take a toll on them mentally and emotionally. In turn, this could hamper chance at rehabilitation. If the end game of incarceration is in fact to rehabilitate inmates, shouldn’t we remove barriers to rehabilitation instead of creating them?

We Americans may love our products and fancy clothes. However, they should not come at the expense of actual human beings; whether they are “criminals” or not.

[image from Flickr]